As a long time commuter rail rider, I still subscribe to the T-alerts. What are T-alerts?

An alert service that sends text messages or an email to your phone or mobile device when the line you are subscribed to is having trouble. Wonder why the train is late? Ah, technical difficulty or signal trouble, or police activity. The T-alerts have improved in timeliness over the years. So even though I drive down to RI now, I still subscribe for those occasions when I would take the train in on the weekend or to just keep tabs on what is happening with the Franklin line in particular.

MBTA

Beginning June 4, the MBTA will begin using a new service to send T-Alerts. As part of the transition, the MBTA is asking all current subscribers to re-subscribe in order to continue receiving T-Alerts. Visit http://bit.ly/10yX5zj to subscribe or learn more. You must re-subscribe by Thursday, June 4, in order to continue receiving T-Alerts. Thank you.

So if you have subscribed, you should have received the notice above about the change in the service. If you haven't subscribed, maybe now is a good time to do so. Why wait on the platform without knowing? Why not be 'in the know'!

You can select specific time periods of the day for a specific line. I happen to choose all the time periods for the Franklin Line and the email confirmation looks like this:

You have made the following changes to your Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority subscriptions:

You subscribed to topics:

Franklin Line - AM Peak

Franklin Line - Early AM

Franklin Line - Evening

Franklin Line - Midday

Franklin Line - PM Peak

Franklin Line - Weekend

You will receive an email update when new information becomes available.

There should be more magic. Abracadabra!! There are two free shows today!

Illusions Galore May 19

Enjoy a day with your child at the Illusions Galore Magic Show on Sunday, May 19. Shows run at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and are free to attend. Illusions Galore will be held in the Attleboro High School Auditorium, 100 Rathbun Willard Dr. in Attleboro. No ticket necessary.

Friday, May 17, 2013

Reminder that the Library Book Sale opens this evening from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM for friends of Franklin Library members (membership is $25 and you can sign up there), opens on Saturday from 9:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The DPW "Touch a truck" will run from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. The book sale will close out on Sunday morning buying books by the bag. Additional details can be found herehttp://www.franklinmatters.org/2013/05/friends-of-franklin-library-book-sale.html

Franklin Library Book Sale

The Parmenter School will do a car wash and bottle/can drive on Saturday

Yesterday, the Senate Ways & Means Committee unveiled its budget proposal for FY 2014, detailing how it would support vital state programs from Education and Health Care to Human Services, Public Safety, and beyond. Our new Budget Monitor describes the funding proposals, and also the mix of tax and non-tax revenue.

As was true for the House, the Senate Ways & Means proposal relies on some new money to help fix and improve our Transportation system. Beyond that, though, the investments specified in the proposal are fairly narrow--largely because they are constrained by the limited amount of available revenue. The Governor's budget had included a larger revenue package, which made possible a range of investments in education (pre-K through college) that would support the long-term needs of our economy.

The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget) produces policy research, analysis, and data-driven recommendations focused on improving the lives of low- and middle-income children and adults, strengthening our state's economy, and enhancing the quality of life in Massachusetts.

The Friends of the SNETT (Southern New England Trunkline Trail) are hosting host trail-wide events for National Trails Day® on Saturday, June 1st. The Friends of the SNETT consists of representatives from all six SNETT towns (Franklin, Bellingham, Blackstone, Millville, Uxbridge and Douglas), as well as regional planning and state agencies. Our goal is to improve and promote the use of the trail.

Events may vary by town but include planting flowers and beautifying the trail entrance with the help of the public and the Boy and Girl Scouts, family friendly nature games, such as “I Spy Nature,” and both guided and non-guided trail walks.

"I just don’t feel comfortable (with the current staff levels), and I’m speaking for our citizens,'' he said. "I don’t want to play Russian roulette when something happens."

Semerjian assured Vallee that in the case of a major incident, the town would receive help quickly from neighboring departments. Also a regional SWAT team, if needed, could respond in under an hour.

The same staff woes face the fire department.

Its fiscal 2014 budget does not include Fire Chief Gary McCarraher’s request for four additional firefighters — the amount, he said, that the department needs in order to increase response times, fully staff its King Street quarters and reduce line-of-duty injuries.

"We are not even close to catching up," said DPW Director Robert Cantoreggi. "We are not even maintaining right now. Every year that goes by, the overall road condition deteriorates."

The town has a list of all of the roads that need repair. Those in the worst shape are toward the top.

Planning repairs a year to two years in advance, the DPW has managed to slowly chip away at the list. But there isn’t an unlimited source of funds. When the town uses up the state money, all that remains is whatever can be spared from its free cash.

Per the discussion during the Town Council meeting on Wednesday, Jeff Nutting will work with the DPW to come back to the Council with a plan. They had already committed to integrating the road plan with the water/sewer plan which is scheduled to be completed before the end of the year. While the article implies an override is the only option, the Council asked to see a presentation that lays out the options.

Fresh Air volunteers need your help to create another fun-filled summer for children from New York City.

Medway was one of the country's first towns to erect a Vietnam War monument. Later this month, just after Memorial Day, its residents will have the opportunity to recognize every one of the 58,272 Americans who gave their lives in the conflict.

Holds on Treasurer/Collector and Town Clerk budgets had been held last night, were waived

Question on Facilities budget around a part-time person less than 20 hours, no benefits on the payroll through the construction period

Q - Are you undermanned?
Police Chief - yes, we are doing background on one individual now

Nutting - we have been up and down, we are hoping to get this one on by July after background checks pass etc.

Vallee - for a community our size, I don't feel we are well protected
Chief - we are fortunate with the people we have, maybe next year we could get
for the night shift, we have 3 with a sargent, with this one we can get back to 4 with a sargent

we do a forty percent replacement, if one goes out we don't replace them, if the second one goes out.

Nutting - if there is more people, the perception is that OT would go down, but it doesn't always work that way. From a crime stats, we were just named one of the safest communities.

The technology and the equipment make all those people more effective, even if it is not one time, it is not a sixty year cost. It would be nice to have more people in many places, if we have a deficit next year, what do we do?

Vallee - I am speaking for my constituents and I am not comfortable
Chief - if we want to do something, we should come up with a plan other than a time like this. You don't want to bring someone on when we may have to let them go a couple of years down the road.

Mercer - can you clarify? does this get to 44?
Chief - yes, we are at 43 and going to 44

Dellorco - What about the deputy chief?
Chief - we are working through that, this is a major decision. It is a minimal expense (i.e. increase) not an other body. We are talking with HR and should have something ready for the fall.

Nutting - we'd like to run the test for Franklin first and see what applicants we get.

Kelly - can we get a comparison report on who we stack with the other communities?
Nutting - we can do that

Kelly - I'm looking for stats that can be easily understood, how many people per square mile, etc.
Chief - we'd we right about 1.3 per thousand

Bissanti - i want to echo his sentiment, something happens during the night shift, what happens
Chief - if there are multiple accidents, Bellingham and Walpole will have a car there right away

Roy - from a public safety perspective, they do a great job, we were recognized as one of the safest communities in America. We are good shape, thanks for the good work by the Chief and dept

Jones - what would you say are the top three complaints the officers have
Chief - short on some shifts, not always sending people to training, lack of movement among the department

Powederly - I want to echo the great job that you and the Fire Dept does, across the board. I disagree with some of the comments about 'we have the money'. I think everyone would like to give staff back, we have lost 20% of our staff. you do a great job taking the pulse of the community and letting us know. I appreciate your efforts in trying to weigh those.

Vallee - Until we get back to 50, I will not be comfortable

continue the line item with the Fire Dept

Chief Gary McCarragher
optimal is 10 on shift and we are at 9
right around 400,000 for overtime

Nutting - the budget is under here because we don't have a collective bargaining agreement, we have one for every other union but not this one

Vallee - I am concerned that we are not providing 2 ambulances for our community
Chief - I share your concern, we are optimal with 5 people at each firehouse, we are one short and thereby it is a problem. We have the easy part of the budget problem, we can tell you what we need. You have to fill in the other details. We have a plan with the regional dispatch to allow us to re-position personnel to the line, we are competing for Federal dollars where Fall River is getting money over us where they are in danger of loosing 80 firefighters

Chief - 53% of the calls this year are the second call coming in when the department is already out on a call. We have call back so that helps immensely, those elements can become stressful. Fire rescue providers are the top stressful positions in America

Vallee - we are sitting with a stabilization fund and other money and I think we should do something

Pfeffer - we have nothing in this budget for the settlement?
Nutting - yes, we don't know when it will be could be the fall or next year, we don't know

Pfeffer - so it would come from free cash?
Nutting - likely, even if it is later this year, the Council still has to approve the deal when it is settled

Chief - removing the one person from the scene has a big impact

Powderly - I would like to respond to the comment of using the stabilization fund. We did use money from there in earlier years when it was significantly more. To dip into that now, relative to our budget, it is not good to use. The rating agencies look to that for our credit ratings. You can't keep dipping into that.

Vallee - my concern is not in saving money, it is in saving lives.

-----
on the schools budget line

Jones - Norfolk Aggie, a decrease?
Yes, two less students, at 2,000/student

Cultural Council
Roy - can we use the $1,000 extra in the budget and move that to the Cultural Council? The Council does good work and it seems an easy way to help increase the community in this arena
seconded, voted via roll call 9-0

The Town Council had a busy session on Wednesday. If you turned aside for a moment you could easily get confused. There was a series of public hearings scheduled include the major one for next year's budget. Before getting into the budget, let's cover the zoning bylaw changes.

There were several sets of hearings covering different groups of bylaw changes.

1 - The first set was around impervious surfaces. A couple of these bylaws are still with the Planning Board for modification so it seemed confusing but all together the set will come forward eventually. There will be a hearing on June 5th to continue the discussion on this topic.

2 - The next set was some minor modifications to the adult entertainment zoning. These are being modified because the next set on medical marijuana is built upon the adult entertainment zoning. This set was officially the first reading of two readings by the Town Council. Hopefully, no one in the audience really wanted to speak on this and the next topic as the hearing were closed summarily without looking up to the audience at all.

3 - Next up was the set for the medical marijuana zoning. This would be provisioning the Town to handle a permit for a medical marijuana dispensary as approved by the voters in the last Statewide election. There are no current proposals but this prepares Franklin should one come forward. These were officially the first of two readings before being voted on by the Town Council.

Not covered by a public hearing were two items that were referred to the Planning Board. They are zoning adjustments and targeted to handle a possible RFP and proposal to utilize the long unused property on Pond St for an anaerobic digestion facility. What the heck is anaerobic digestion? Check out the wikipedia entry here to get some background info on this process.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_digestion

The Planning Board is scheduled for a public hearing on Monday, June 3rd to review this. Per the meeting tonight, a bunch of information will be forthcoming so we need to wait for the hearing and pay attention to that one. Sitting the facility near the Tri-County Regional Voc Tech and in the middle of a neighborhood will generate some discussion for sure.

The school budget was also the subject of a brief presentation and then the Town Council went into the reading line item by line item were some were held for further discussion on Thursday night.

I caught the Police and Fire budgets as the major ones held for discussion. I think I missed one or two others. We'll see for sure on Thursday.

There was significant discussion on the resolution to approve salary increases for the Town Clerk and Treasurer/Collector. They normally get the equivalent percent increase that everyone else gets. This year (and the first time in several years but the exact last time was not confirmed during the meeting) there was a proposal to provide more of an increase to help make the salaries competitive. With the increase the salaries are 13,000 and 8,000 less than the average respectfully per the analysis done. The measure was approved by a roll call vote 8-1 with Judith Pfeffer the lone dissenting vote.

Under new business, there was discussion and we should see sometime in the future a presentation to consider funding options on how to get the roads into a better condition. There was also discussion on how to get a medical emergency facility located here in Franklin to better serve our community. More on this topic as it develops.

The Kelley-Rex division champion Panthers have not been a free-scoring team this season, but every game it seems as though someone new steps up to grab the goals that they need to get the victory. On Wednesday night at King Philip it was Mackenzie Pleshaw.

The freshman attacker buried a hat trick to lead Franklin to convincing 9-3 victory over its league rivals, ruining the Warriors Senior Night celebrations and continuing its perfect run through the Hockomock under first-year head coach Kristen Igoe.

“That’s just confidence,” said the coach about Pleshaw’s performance. “She’s not afraid to go to net and start ripping corners. This is the perfect time for her to be coming on, so good for her.”

J. F. Kennedy Elementary School PCC and Cub Scout Pack 126 Recycling Day Fundraiser - The J. F. Kennedy Parent Communication Council (PCC) and Cub Scout Pack 126 have joined together to sponsor a Recycling Day Fundraiser on Saturday, May 18 from 9 am -12 pm at the Kennedy Elementary School Parking lot at 551 Pond St., Franklin.

Proceeds from this fundraiser will be used by the Kennedy PCC for educational programs for the J. F. Kennedy Elementary School students and by Cub Scout Pack 126 for programs for their members. For more information, contact Lisa Lipson at lisalipson@comcast.net.

All along, Town Administrator Jeffrey Nutting has presented the $95.1 million proposed fiscal year 2014 budget as a calculated step toward shoring up Franklin for greater fiscal challenges on the horizon.

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

M. NEW BUSINESS
Vallee - discussion on road repairs
Nutting - discussion on amount for an ongoing repairs, how much could be done per year. Should be a dedicated override vs a bond issue. Payback on the bond issue would require 2M a year on a 5M bond
under the law now, you can earmark amount for an override with only a change due to another vote by the general public

Roy - I would an enjoy a presentation on the options that can be consider
what roads would be consider, what returns would be covered

Bissanti - frankly the road situation is not good, we have to address it, the citizens have been concerned and have been participatory, we have to address it. I don't like spending money but we need to review it

Mercer - not only the roads but the water and sewer are underneath it

Nutting - we can put something together

Nutting - we have a road and sidewalk plan, and a water/sewer plan, we are putting them together to have a simple 'master plan'

Dellorco - if we are going to present it we have to do it right, otherwise they won't approve

Nutting - the good news is we would present the plan, the council would approve each year

Vallee - we can be reactive, we need to be more proactive

Vallee - the time the ambulance takes to drive to Milford or Norwood, why can't we get a small hospital in town? urgent care, to stabilize a victim before travel

Nutting - to site a hospital is likely a decade of work with permits, etc.

Powderly - it would be a long process, we could talk with the area facilities and see if they would consider opening a satellite facility here

public hearing being scheduled for Jun 3rd at Planning Board meeting
would allow Town Council to seek requests for proposals
look for a full explanation on Monday Jun 3rd, 7:30 PM

difference between lease and ownership options, if land is still owned by Franklin, they would maintain control over the details
also discourages private competition

big questions but current zoning limits this opportunity to only this spot
there is a boat load of information to be had during the public hearing
if this is desired to be repeated at the council meeting, it can be

if this goes forward, there would be an RFP for companies to put forward a proposal
the amount of revenue would be dependent upon the amount of electricity generated to the grid

13. Resolution 13-31: Appropriation- Remington Jefferson Schoolto fund repairs to the roof of the schoolAsking for $500,000 for repairs during the summerWill this correct the current leaks at the school?Yesaffects 40% of the backside of the roof near the playground area5 yr contractor warranty, 20 product warranty(copy of plan to be added later)14. Resolution 13-32: Salary Schedule Full Time Elected Officialsmove resolution, voted 8-1 (Pfeffer only no, via roll call)needs to be voted separately as these are the elected officialsconstantly adjusting and evaluating to maintain competitive salarycloser to the average both still well below the average salaryan effort to bring some parity to the positionsall collective bargaining agreements have gotten 2%Pfefferfor the 1st time, giving a raise of 4.6 and 5.3 percent and the others have not gotten this, I will not support thisRoyif you do not offer a competitive salary, the move to making them more so is laudable, we do that for others. I would urge the Councilors to support thisBissantiI see the level of complexity we have vs some of the bedroom communities, the increases are justified based upon the work we do vs other communities

The next four resolutions are made annually to approve the establishment of such accounts

15. Resolution 13-33: Establishment of a Use of Facilities Account for Fiscal Year 2014motion to approve, passed 9-016. Resolution 13-34: Establishment of a Fire Department Fire Rescue Training Revolving Account for Fiscal Year 2014motion to approve, passed 9-017. Resolution 13-35: Establishment of a Council on Aging Supportive Day Program Revolving Account for Fiscal Year 2014motion to approve, passed 9-018. Resolution 13-36: Establishment of a Council on Aging Senior Center Activities Program Revolving Account for Fiscal Year 2014 motion to approve, passed 9-0

unfunded mandates a significant driver for the school costs other than the 'normal' salary and benefits for staff
$1.4M of federal funding could be affected by sequestration, exactly how much remains to be seen; could be about a 5% reduction

Under the State average on all 11 categories of per pupil spending, overall 19% below the state average

no questions from audience or councilors

Now reading the line items of the budget, as noted earlier, a item can be 'held' for further discussion
all items not held will be considered 'approved' and voted on once all the items (and potential adjustments) are totaled.

Between the showers on Saturday, I stopped for some photos at the new Franklin High School.

cranes in position to work

The framing of the walls is just starting. According to Building Committee Chairman Tom Mercer, they are on schedule to have the exterior complete before the winter sets in. The building walls, windows, doors and roof will be complete and what will remain will be all the interior work.

I was curious to see the 'quality wall' that Tom Mercer mentioned during his update at a recent Town Council meeting. This is a good and recent innovation by the MSBA. Each of the subcontractors works to do their thing to put this 'quality wall' together. The architect can then observe the product in this test section before they work on the real building.

quality wall

This allows the architect to confirm that the materials and process are being used as specified and that the end result is what they were looking for.

quality wall - side view

This quality wall will be taken down but serves a good purpose with minimal expense and effort!